the sacred rock project

February 9, 2013
event JPO at ISBA Besançon, France
a global cyber-performance with the participation of 12 artists from all 6 continents streamed live via skype and shown simultaneously on multiple screens from 14:00 to 18:00 french time


The concept of the “Sacred Rock Project” would be to show images reminiscent of Greece - but none of these images are to be transmitted from the actual geographic region of Greece. The idea being to point out that "Greece" is more than just a geographical area.

Artists are asked to transmit a live video of a place / object / or space that in some way manifests "the Greek idea" in their own opinion and to transmit this image without necessarily interacting themselves. A kind of a quiet performance without performers.

The main idea of this project is that "Greek thinking" can be found at the root of every humanistic approach, that all Europeans share the same principles / ideals / the same mentality - That everything which is "Greek" is not only confined to the greek nation but to all Europeans in a way, as we all (still) have values based on the same ancient ideal of humanity + philosophy of ancient Greece and it’s capital Athens. These video transmissions are in no way related to the usual touristic depictions of classical or modern Greece, nor do they have any connection with a kind of a nationalist reaction to the economical crisis of today.
The idea is to show that Greece (which is now almost looked upon like a third world country, a country separated from the rest of Europe) and its ideals are indeed a large part of today’s western culture, deeply connected over the centuries and heavily influencing the humanistic approach of the western way of thinking. This project aims to present all of this in a somehow static, simple and quiet form, like the ideas that it represents and that have always been present in aspects of our daily life and surroundings and are therefore not necessarily noticeable as foreign influences anymore.

Performances were transmitted from at least one person from each of every 6 continents via Skype (there even was a transmission from McMurdo Base in Antarctica).

This project is a world-wide collective cyber performance, curated by Rilène Markopoulou based on her idea and realised by the artists: Eva Giannakopoulou (Berlin/Europe), Maria Nikiforaki (London/ Europe), Monika Pavlechova (Bratislava/Europe), Florent Schoebel (McMurdo/Antarctica), Ioanna Gouzeli (Utrecht/Europe), Justine Roch (Besançon/Europe), Stephanie Mann (Edinburgh/Europe), Eva Isleifsdottir (Reykjavik/Europe), Noemi Iglesias Barrios (La Felguera/Europe), Antonia Kotsiros (Albury / Australia), Thea Ioakimides-Eliopoulos (Boston/Amerika), Thomas Huber (Ambon / Asia), Jenny Papachristos-Tzavelekakis (Johannesburg / Africa).